Friday 7 May 2010 12.57 EDT
First published on Friday 7 May 2010 12.57 EDT

Chelsea once acted as if there was a glut of prizes. After the side had beaten Manchester United at Stamford Bridge to retain the title in April 2006, José Mourinho was presented with his medal and tossed it straight into the crowd. A replacement was handed over and, predictably, it was soon airborne as well. A couple of years later, one of those souvenirs was sold at auction for £21,600. By then its worth was starting to reflect a scarcity value in Chelsea affairs.

Should Carlo Ancelotti's men go about their work professionally against Wigan Athletic, the Premier League trophy will return on Sunday. It would be coming back to an altered Chelsea. Paradoxically, the fact that the line-up has not changed all that much confirms that the club operates in a different fashion. Petr Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Joe Cole, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba played that afternoon four years ago and, if fit, would all have hopes of involvement now.

In 2006, there was tumult and anticipation in every aspect of Chelsea. It looked as if stability made Mourinho restless and Roman Abramovich showed a desire to sustain the momentum at any cost when paying more than £30m that summer for Andriy Shevchenko. It was a decision to give a proprietor an aversion to repeating such moves. Abramovich had been trying to buy the Ukrainian from Milan for a year or more and the craving overwhelmed any reservations that the attacker was on the brink of his 30th birthday.

Shevchenko hit four league goals in his first Chelsea campaign and five the next. It is a fading tale by now, but the episode was among the factors that nudged the club's owner towards restraint once a reported wish to see the striker stay in the line-up had to be abandoned. Conceptions about what was wanted or needed came under review. Mourinho and his histrionics were gone by September 2007, despite his team then having the same number of points as the eventual champions, Manchester United.

There was a weariness with the strife that looks indispensable to the Portuguese. Ancelotti embodies the taste for a more temperate and affordable way of conducting affairs. The Italian carries with him an understanding of the famed Milan Lab and even if its reputation is sometimes overstated it cannot be a coincidence that Chelsea have seen the veterans perform with such freedom and produce so many goals. Aspects of the campaign may still have come as a complete surprise to Abramovich.

It was natural to suppose that the manager was recruited with the European scene in mind since he had, after all, guided Milan to the Champions League trophy twice. On the other hand, the Serie A title was delivered just once in a tenure at San Siro that lasted seven and a half seasons. If Abramovich has in mind mastery of Europe, the mission needed to be rescheduled when Mourinho brought Inter to London in March and eliminated Chelsea.

Abramovich may find it delightfully unexpected to see these players instead undertaking such an extended domestic campaign that it even comprises a run to the FA Cup final. Ancelotti has sustained the freshness and that must reflect the atmosphere he has created around the team as much as any training programme. There was a relative calmness that is bound to be linked to a trust in the manager when Chelsea were winning away games against their rivals.

Chelsea and United do resemble one another in a dependence on an old guard at each club, but the Old Trafford cadre of Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs is even more elderly. These sides will have taken six titles in a row, but the means for them to open up a new phase are in doubt. Although one of these is about to prevail, each ought to be under threat soon enough.

Ancelotti and Ferguson cannot be complacent. Each will realise that Manchester City, whatever the angst over the defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, were 10th last year and stand fifth. There is no Champions League adventure to lure prospective signings to Eastlands but the offers made with Sheikh Mansour's money may be enticing in their own manner. Tottenham are making rapid progress and Arsenal will pose a threat if they develop more resilience. Either United or Chelsea will be euphoric but the summer must be taken up with reflection on how each club revitalises itself.